Take Note

Claim to Fame

It wasn't the song's punk-pop beat or the in-your-face lyrics that
caught the attention of Mike Dancy when he first watched a music video
by the Canadian singer Avril Lavigne.

The first thing Mr. Dancy, the principal of North Carolina's
Wilkesboro Elementary School, noticed was the green-and-gold T-shirt
Ms. Lavigne wore in the video while skateboarding through a hallway and
jumping on a car. It had been about five years since the school sold
that type of shirt—adorned with the school's name, its motto, and
an eagle—but it has now put Wilkesboro, N.C., on the map.

Mr. Dancy found out about the pop singer's choice of clothing after
a teacher saw a picture on the Internet of Ms. Lavigne wearing the
T-shirt.

Then, a few months later, a freelance reporter got in touch with Mr.
Dancy for a story he was writing about how fans immediately rush to buy
clothes worn by Ms. Lavigne. The writer said that the singer most
likely had gotten the shirt from a New York thrift store.

Fans all over the world want to wear the now-famous Wilkesboro
Elementary School shirt Ms. Lavigne wore in her video "Sk8ter Boi"
(pronounced "skater boy"). So Mr. Dancy decided it was time to cash
in.

Marcia Reynolds, the president of the school's parent-teacher
organization, has received hundreds of e-mails about the T-shirts, and
orders have come from as far away as Europe and Asia, Mr. Dancy said.
Local residents and the school's 437 students also are lining up to buy
the shirts.

"Man, she's a hot item down here. We're thrilled," Mr. Dancy said.
"Those T-shirts like she wore are just all over the place. Even the
cafeteria ladies have them."

The PTO ordered 1,000 shirts, and about 750 have already been sold,
he said.

The shirts are being sold at the school for $10 and on eBay for $20.
The money will go toward buying computers for all the classrooms, Mr.
Dancy said. Students are tracking sales with a map hung on a bulletin
board in the school hallway.

And the school would like Ms. Lavigne to visit and perform for the
students, Mr. Dancy said, but so far has been unsuccessful at reaching
the singer's agent.